Birmingham Board of Education will meet April 21 to vote on two finalists for superintendent

Posted April 19, 2017

The Birmingham Board
of Education will meet for a special called board meeting on Friday, April 21
at 5 p.m. at the Central office to select two finalists for superintendent. An
earlier media notice said that Friday’s meeting would be held at 5:30 p.m. The
new time is 5 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

Board members interviewed
three candidates today for superintendent. Originally, there were five
candidates. However, Dr. Timothy Gadson III, superintendent designee and
executive director of curriculum and schools for Robbinsdale Area Schools in
Minneapolis, Minn., stepped down from consideration on Sunday, April 16. Dr.
Ronnie Dotson, superintendent of Carter County School District in
Grayson, Ky. stepped down hours before his interview today. Both cited the
community climate connected to the selection of the next superintendent as
reasons for removing their names from consideration. Dr. Dotson also cited a
bomb threat called into the Central office during one candidate’s interview
today as another reason he decided not to continue with the process.

“He felt that due to the
climate, that he could no longer continue,’’ Board Member April Williams said
of Dr. Dotson. “He apologized profusely. He even offered just to go through the
interview if it would save face for Birmingham.’’

“But what broke my heart was
for him to share, with so much passion and conviction, his desire to help lead
Birmingham. (He compared) Birmingham City Schools with the school system where
he currently is.’’

The building was evacuated and
searched. No bomb was found. Employees soon returned to the building. Williams
said it was very concerning when a small fraction of the community can have
such a negative impact on the quality of education in Birmingham.

The interviews continued after
lunch today because “we owe it to 24,000 students, the families that we serve
and our employees to stay focused on this process and finalize it with securing
the best available superintendent to lead Birmingham City Schools,’’ said
Williams, who’s also head of the district’s superintendent search committee.

The board is
interested in community feedback. An online survey is now available
for Birmingham citizens and Birmingham City Schools’ employees to provide
feedback on the candidates. The survey will close at 12 p.m. on Friday,
April 21. For the survey, visit: https://www.bhamcityschools.org/Page/31449.

During the April 21 meeting, the
school board will review the candidates' materials, interviews and community
feedback; compile scores; and select two finalists. The meeting is open to the
public.

The two finalists will have interviews the
week of April 25. Dates and times for those interviews will be available soon.
Those interviews will also be open to the public.

A second survey seeking
public input on the two finalists will be placed on the district website at the
close of the last of the two interviews. The date of when the second survey
will be posted and the deadline for citizens to reply to the surveys will be
given soon.

Board members will review all
of the scoring data on the two finalists and meet to vote on a superintendent
on Tuesday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m.